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The Moral World of Etty Hillesum Fairfield University DigitalCommons@Fairfield Religious Studies Faculty Publications Religious Studies Department Spring 3-1-2001 Ethics as Transformative Love: The Moral World of Etty Hillesum Francis T. Hannafey S.J. Fairfield University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/religiousstudies-facultypubs Peer Reviewed Repository Citation Hannafey, Francis T. S.J., "Ethics as Transformative Love: The Moral World of Etty Hillesum" (2001). Religious Studies Faculty Publications. 55. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/religiousstudies-facultypubs/55 Published Citation Hannafey, Francis T. "Ethics as Transformative Love: The Moral World of Etty Hillesum." Horizons 28.1 (Spring 2001): 68-80. This item has been accepted for inclusion in DigitalCommons@Fairfield by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Fairfield. It is brought to you by DigitalCommons@Fairfield with permission from the rights- holder(s) and is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ETHICS AS TRANSFORMATIVE LOVE: THE MORAL WORLD OF ETTY HILLESUM Francis T. Hannafey, S.J. Fairfield University ABSTRACT Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew who died at Auschwitz at the age of twenty-nine, left behind a diary and letters written during the last two years of her life. In An Interrupted Life and Letters from Wes- terbork, Hillesum tells a deeply moving story of religious experi­ ence, evil and suffering, spiritual growth, and interior and exterior moral transformation. While current scholarship on Hillesum fo­ cuses almost entirely on her personal life and religious journey, this essay examines the moral vision that emerges in her writings. Hille- sum's diaries and letters present an engaging vision of the moral life—one that points with clarity to the importance of love of God and love of neighbor. This essay proposes that a love ethic is at the center of Hillesum's worldview and examines major influences on her religious and moral thought. J. Introduction Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew who died at Auschwitz at the age of twenty-nine, left behind a diary and letters written during the last two years of her life.1 Since the early nineteen-eighties English translations, An Interrupted Life and Letters From Westerbork, have been welcomed with high praise. Many around the world have been deeply moved by the writings of this young Jewish woman. One reviewer boldly claimed that the diaries represent "the most spiritually significant document of our age."2 In her diaries and letters Hillesum documents her experiences of God, moral evil, and human suffering. Her writings reveal a captivating aI am especially grateful to my colleagues Nancy A. Dallavalle, Elizabeth A. Dreyer, Andrew J. Garavel, S.J., and to anonymous Horizons reviewers, for their helpful sugges­ tions to improve this essay. An early version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics in Arlington, Virginia, January 8, 2000.1 wish to thank those present who offered recommendations for improvement. 2Elizabeth O'Connor, "The Thinking Heart: A Feminine Spirituality From the Ho­ locaust," Sojourners 14/9 (October 1985): 41. Francis T. Hannafey, S.J. (Ph.D., 1998, Loyola University Chicago) is assistant professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University (Fairfield, CT 06430) where he teaches Chris­ tian social ethics in the Religious Studies Department. He also teaches business ethics in the University's Applied Ethics Program. His research interests include Roman Catholic social teaching and business ethics. HORIZONS, 28/1 (2001), 68-80 Hannafey: The Moral World of Etty Hillesum 69 story of religious development and growth toward spiritual maturity. Current scholarship on Hillesum focuses almost entirely on her per­ sonal life and on her religious journey.3 Some authors have examined her writings in light of Jewish and Christian spiritual and mystical traditions.4 But the diaries and letters also present a vision of the moral life—one that points with engaging clarity to the central importance of love of God and love of neighbor. Love of God and neighbor becomes central to Hillesum's developing moral worldview. Etty Hillesum writes during a dark period of modern history. She never denies the reality of the evil and suffering around her and she has no illusions about its horror. Despite this unspeakable moral chaos and cruelty, her diaries and letters reveal a deep and intimate experience of God that inspires in her own life a deep moral transformation. In An Interrupted Life, Etty Hillesum gradually moves from a narrow, indi­ vidualistic moral worldview to one that embraces an intensely other- directed ethic. Hillesum's story reveals a deep moral transformation, one grounded in a love that embraces all of humanity. Religious faith expands Hillesum's moral worldview and leads her to embrace the demands of moral obligation and responsibility to God and to others. The intense and growing love at the center of Hillesum's own religious experience forms the ground and source of her loving embrace of, and outreach to, those around her, especially those who are suffering. This essay examines the structure of moral development in Hille- sum's diaries and letters. While existing Hillesum scholarship focuses primarily on the importance of her work to spirituality, this study explores the rich yet unexamined moral reflection in her writings. Hillesum's encounter with God gradually leads her to look deeply into herself and to her moral responses to those in the world around her. In this essay I propose that a love ethic is at the center of Hillesum's moral 3See, e.g., Maureen Aggeler, "Women's Metaphors For Freedom," Supplement to The Way 74 (Summer 1992): 20-30; Calvin Bedient, "Outward from the Camps Them­ selves" in Martyrs: Contemporary Writers on Modern Lives of Faith, ed. Susan Bergman (San Francisco: Harper, 1996), 169-81; Bernard Weinstein, "Etty Hillesum's An Inter­ rupted Life: Searching for the Human" in The Netherlands and Nazi Genocide, ed. G. Jan Colijn and Marcia S. Littell (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992). For useful studies of the importance of writing and the spiritual life in Hillesum's life and work, see Denise De Costa, Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum: Inscribing Spirituality and Sexuality, tr. Mischa F. C. Hoyinck and Robert E. Chesal (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998); see also Rachel Felday Brenner, Writing As Resistance: Four Women Confroning the Holocaust (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). 4See, e.g., Gregory Baum, "The Witness of Etty Hillesum, The Ecumenist 23 (Janu­ ary-February 1985): 24-28; Tina Beattie, "Love Without Limit," The Tablet 253 (24 July 1999): 1014-15; Lawrence S. Cunningham, "Letters From The Kingdom of Night: The Legacy of Etty Hillesum," Commonweal 114 (22 May 1987): 316-18; Richard R. Gaillar- detz, "Etty Hillesum: Suffering and Sexuality, Reflections on Passionate Living," Spiri­ tuality 6 (May/June 2000): 148-52. 70 HORIZONS worldview. This study examines the diaries and letters and the ways in which love is considered in them, explores the nature of Hillesum's love ethic, and then considers possible influences on her moral thought. Finally, I propose that Hillesum's love ethic is similar to that of St. Augustine, whom she draws upon in her diaries. IL Love and the Diaries Love and relationships are central to the diaries from the earliest entries. In 1941, while living in Amsterdam, Hillesum, aged 27, began keeping a diary, a practice she continued until near the end of her life. Hillesum, who showed a great capacity for relationships, describes them in the context of measures against the Jewish people, her prayer life, and a wide variety of personal experiences. The growth, develop­ ment, and eventual transformation of her inner life and her maturing relationship with God form the central narrative of the diaries which beautifully describe her relationships with friends, family, and others.5 A number of striking patterns emerge: Hillesum reflects frequently on what she calls the "inner" and "outer" in her life; her growing sense of moral obligation to love all of humanity; and the serious problem of hatred in her world. III. The Inner and Outer Hillesum's early diary entries begin what becomes a sustained re­ flection on the "inner" and "outer" dimensions of her life. She de­ scribes many movements in her intense "inner" life of prayer. Her interest in reading, her vocation to writing, and her academic work as a linguist each provides in different ways connections between the "inner" and "outer" parts of her life. Hillesum searches for greater balance and integrity in the relationship between her rich "inner" life of prayer and her "outer" life in the world. Early in the diaries she writes, "There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too."6 Hillesum experiences God's love deep 5A number of authors have studied the transformative development in Hillesum's writings. These studies have directed most of their attention to the personal, religious, and spiritual changes discernable in these documents. See, e.g., Judy Cannato, "Trans­ formation in Etty Hillesum: From Chaos To Order," Spiritual Life 40 (Summer 1994): 88-96; Michael Downey, "A Balm for All Wounds: The Spiritual Legacy of Etty Hille­ sum," Spirituality Today 40 (Spring 1988): 18-35; Elizabeth Liebert, "The Thinking Heart: Developmental Dynamics in Etty Hillesum's Diaries," Pastoral Psychology 43/6 (1995): 393-409.
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